Edmonton police break up identity theft, counterfeiting operation

Four people have been charged after an investigation into an identity theft and counterfeiting operation that police say snared over 130 victims with fake Canadian and United States currency.

"It's uncommon to find so many ID documents and replicated currency in one place, so that makes it unique," Const. Benjamin Davis said Tuesday. "By removing these stolen identities from the street, we're stopping any future frauds to individuals or businesses."

Early in 2017, Northeast division officers began investigating reports that residents of a house near 121st Avenue and 59th Street were involved in an alleged counterfeiting operation.

On the morning of Feb. 28, officers observed one resident drive away from the house in a stolen Ford F-350. Three other residents drove away in a Ford Escape with a stolen validation tag.

Police stopped both vehicles and arrested the residents.

During a search of the home, police found driver's licences, passports, birth certificates, social insurance cards, healthcare cards, credit cards, bank cards and assorted membership cards. Two of the stolen driver's licences had been altered to create new fake identification, police say.

Police also found stolen mail, cheques, money orders, vehicle access codes, counterfeit $20 and $50 US bills, and Canadian bills in $5, $10 and $20 denominations. They also found counterfeiting materials including printers, scanners, a laptop, external hard drives, memory sticks and a debit terminal.

Four undocumented rifles with ammunition were also found.

He said the cases go back two years and that it will take time to get in touch with all the victims.

"It's going to be quite the investigation," he said. "We've got to track down each one," he said of the victims.

Some of the fraud cases were the result of a simple thing like someone leaving their wallet in a bar or restaurant.